Exodus from the Earth Review

From Russia, with bad translation.

Not only is the environment unrealistically interactive, it's inconsistently so. Control panels look the same wherever you go, but sometimes you use them by targeting them and hitting the E key; sometimes you mouse click on the panels' interface. Sometimes barrels and boxes are destructible, sometimes they aren't. Sometimes objects can be picked up and moved, and sometimes they're glued to the floor. It's annoying when you find your path blocked by something you know in real life you could just crush or kick aside.

In spite of its many flaws, Exodus from the Earth has real entertainment value. It's unapologetically a linear first-person shooter, unembellished by RPG elements or half-baked, open-world gameplay. If you love to run-and-gun and think stealth isn't even a option, this game has your name written all over it. (Actually since crouch isn't a toggle and you have to hold the C key down while using the WASD keys to navigate, stealth really isn't an option.)

In the future we all still wear nice suits and ties.

In addition to the chaotic, gun-centric parts of the game, you'll enjoy a good number of situational puzzles in a wide variety of interior and exterior locations that take actual thought to solve. And it's hard to get bored with the scenery because it's always changing. Good thing too, because even on the highest settings the graphics of the game are not spectacular. They're competently done but everything has the simplest of textures and effects.

Maybe we should be happy about the game's simple approach at graphics because at max spec the game would likely be unplayable. Upon install, the settings are at ultra-high which causes serious slow-down for machines significantly better than min spec, especially in areas with smoke, water or steam. Many PC gamers will probably have to crank the settings down to medium to avoid the deadly slide-show/twitch gaming combo. On the other hand, yeah, it's not the prettiest game out there but hey--when a crowd of goons are shooting at you, do you have time to watch the water sparkle?

So I've discussed how the overused storyline and the cut-rate graphics affect the game's quality but I've left the worst for last. The game was originally released in Russian and the localization is possibly the worst I have ever seen. Seriously, it's as if the dev team didn't have money for a translator and decided to have their receptionist put all the game's text through a Babelfish translator. This not only makes the uncompelling story totally unintelligible at times, it makes objectives confusing as well.

On the other hand, the awful localization may be the biggest element of inadvertent entertainment value in the game. I found myself laughing out loud at the totally weird loading screen text. For your enjoyment, an excerpt: "To get me out from my vacation and tell about the end of the world - that's all about my boss. I last time saved the world one and a half year ago, and as far as I remember, I didn't do it quite well. The cheap microchip saved the world! And now this Crizby, the A.X., and the sun which is eager to burn us."

Halt! Or gimme five.

The only thing funnier than reading this kind of dialog is hearing it. The characters are fairly well acted (aside from some weird long pauses between lines) but are prone to the same absurd dialect. If nothing else pulls you through the game, wanting to know what kind of crazy dialog you'll hear next probably will.

The Verdict

After juggling the pros and cons of the game from one hand to the other, I find I'm still ambivalent about it. I depend on a game's fiction to make me finish it and Exodus from the Earth nearly scared me away upon install. I mean, let's face it; the sci-fi, end-of-the-world thing has been used almost as often as Michael Jackson's prosthetic nose, and just like that nose, every time it's applied, it just looks worse.

With its solid game design undermined by a cliché story, mediocre graphics and poor localization, Exodus from the Earth is a study in failed potential. The last two-thirds of the game may contain some interesting ideas and good gameplay but many gamers may never see that, having been put off by the shabbily-handled beginning. Let's hope Parallax Art Studio has the opportunity after this to offer us a better title.